The California Assembly spent nearly $200,000 in legal fees fighting against disclosure of member-by-member budgets that allocate tens of millions in public funds, records show.
Assembly administrator Jon Waldie said the sum does not include hundreds of hours, perhaps more than a thousand hours, consumed by Capitol employees in gathering records ultimately ordered released by a Sacramento court.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley ruled against the Assembly in December, four months after the public-records suit was filed by The Bee and Los Angeles Times.
The Assembly paid up to $300 per hour for services rendered by the Remcho, Johansen & Pursell law firm, records show.
The Assembly paid $123,945 in legal fees to fight the suit and -- because it lost -- the 80-member house was ordered by Frawley to pick up the $73,707 tab for The Bee and Los Angeles Times as well.
Waldie said the issue needed court adjudication. The Assembly had argued that member budgets were preliminary documents, were private correspondence, and contained personnel information.
"I think it was important for us because we had been operating under 35 years of precedent," he said. "We felt that a judge would take that into consideration, would support that. This judge decided not to."
Frawley ruled that the "strong public interest in disclosure outweighs any reason for keeping the records secret."
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